Legendary broadcaster known as 'the voice of college football' dead at 89
Keith Jackson, the “voice of college football” and the broadcaster behind a multitude of the sport’s greatest moments for generations, has died. He was 89.
He passed away Friday night surrounded by his family.
Jackson’s legacy lives on in the clever terms he coined for some of college football’s icons. The Rose Bowl will forever be “The Granddaddy of Them All,” Michigan’s home stadium has been embraced by Wolverine faithful as “The Big House,” offensive linemen are “Big Uglies,” and if you tend to hear college football in a thick Roopville, Georgia, accent when you watch with the sound off, that’s Keith Jackson’s effect on your mind.
Jackson’s last call might well have been his very best, at the 2006 BCS National Championship, when Texas beat USC on a game-winning run with just seconds to go in the game by Vince Young:
#RIP to the legendary Keith Jackson, the voice of college football in my childhood.
Only fitting his final game was the greatest college football game ever played. “4th & 5” pic.twitter.com/XGnPdvWsoo
— Brandon Caldwell (@_brandoc) January 13, 2018
Born in 1928, Jackson grew up in Carrollton, Georgia, on the Alabama state line, before attending Washington State University on the GI Bill after service in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Jackson headed cross-state to Seattle, where he worked for KOMO-TV from 1954 to 1964; two years later, he joined ABC Sports when the network got the rights to college football games in 1966.
Forty years later, he was calling possibly the greatest bowl game in college football history as his swan song.
Jackson also called baseball, NBA and college basketball, boxing, auto racing, golf and the Olympics for the network, in addition to being the first play-by-play man for the “Monday Night Football” franchise in 1970. But it is college football where he made his indelible mark on the sports broadcasting pantheon.
“For generations of fans, Keith Jackson was college football,” Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Co., said in a statement. “When you heard his voice, you knew it was a big game.”
He called countless iconic moments, from “Bo over the top”…
We're saddened by the passing of iconic college football voice, Keith Jackson.
Listen to his call of "Bo Over the Top" in 1982.
"First things first. Fourth-and-goal and a half a yard.." pic.twitter.com/K1RktUUovY
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) January 13, 2018
… to George Teague going nuts on defense at the 1993 Sugar Bowl…
“WHOA NELLY”
RIP to one of the greatest to ever call a CFB game. Here’s Keith Jackson’s call of the 1993 Sugar Bowl#CFB #Bama #KeithJackson #SEC pic.twitter.com/prDHtz7rHT
— Brooks Carter (@BrooksACarter) January 13, 2018
… to Desmond Howard’s “Hello, Heisman” punt return against Ohio State:
We are saddened to hear of Keith Jackson's passing.
An absolute icon, he was the Voice of the Rose Bowl and so many #B1G moments.
His calls, including this one, will live on forever. pic.twitter.com/zbE01ZxSfn
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 13, 2018
And let’s not forget that football wasn’t the only sport Jackson left his mark on. This call of an Illinois upset of Indiana alongside Dick Vitale lives on in college basketball history:
RIP Keith Jackson. Will be forever remembered as the voice of college football, but Illini fans will remember him for this innnncrrrredible call: pic.twitter.com/ZwB8LbY5Ps
— Robert Rosenthal (@ALionEye) January 13, 2018
Jackson is the second broadcasting legend we have lost in recent weeks; Dick Enberg died Dec. 21.
Besides Enberg, perhaps nobody set the scene for the home viewer and gave them a reason to care about a game besides having a rooting interest in one of the teams quite like Jackson. Like the time he made Knoxville, Tennessee, seem like the most important place on Earth for a regular-season game against Alabama …
Keith Jackson introduces The Third Saturday in October. pic.twitter.com/ZLmpS9skg8
— Dan Harralson (@danharralson) January 13, 2018
Keith made you wish you were there — and then spent the broadcast making you feel like you were there. So, “Live from the Pearly Gates alongside Saint Peter, this is Keith Jackson, and welcome to Heaven …”
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